Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma was the original researcher to expose the ties between U.S. right-wing evangelicals and the anti-LGBTQ legislation in Uganda, and has testified before Congress and the United Nations. He is the author of "Globalizing the Culture Wars" and "Colonizing African Values," and appears as an expert voice in the 2013 documentary God Loves Uganda. He argues that pseudoscience is the biggest threat to African equality. Read More
From Diagnoses to Dignity -- Barriers to Health Care for Transgender People
Dorian Wilde, an activist from Malaysia, was thrilled to be invited to the World Professional Association of Transgender Health symposium in Bangkok, but his journey to Thailand was fraught. His experience is not unique - to him, to Malaysia, or to air travel. Transgender people everywhere face extraordinary barriers when attempting to access services, including the most essential, such as health care.
From being labelled as having a disorder to shouldering the burden of some of the highest rates of violence and HIV infection in the world, the perils of daily life for transgender people are multi-layered and can inflict substantial harm, experts and activists say. Read More
Inclusive sex education is vital – and British schools aren’t delivering it
Why isn’t there a mandatory requirement to teach children about sexual health and diversity, including LGBT, in the same way as other curriculum subjects?
One in three gay men diagnosed with HIV in 2012 were in their teens or early 20s, yet more than three-quarters of gay and bisexual young people receive no information at school about same-sex relationships or gay safer sex. These failings border on child neglect, and have prompted a coalition of LGBTI, sexual health and HIV campaigners to petition British leaders for change. Read More
HIV, Aging, and LGBT people: A Metamorphosis
Aging with HIV can be especially difficult. Older adults with HIV report high levels of isolation, yet few community spaces embrace their full identities as older people, people with HIV and, in most cases, given the epidemic's prevelence, LGBT and people of color. Additionally, medical research has found multiple health concerns related to aging with HIV—and the psychological dimensions of living with HIV, or a new diagnosis, can spur its own storms. Read More
Coming Out of the PrEP Closet
Scott Wiener, San Francisco Supervisor, District 8: "I'm HIV-negative, and I want to remain that way. I recently decided to be public about my use of PrEP in order to raise awareness about this relatively new tool for preventing HIV. It's important to encourage people at risk for HIV to talk to their medical providers." Wiener isn't the only one coming out for PrEP, everyday couples and individuals share their stories about being proactive for safer sex. Read More
Is 'Undetectable' the New Safe Sex?
The landmark Partner study that everyone is talking about—which tracked HIV transmission risk through condomless sex if the HIV-positive partner is on suppressive antiretroviral medication—has so far found not even one case of an HIV-positive person with an undetectable viral load transmitting the virus to a partner. But people in your everyday life may still be a little disbelieving.
“The most common response I get from disbelievers is that positive men use ‘undetectable’ as a way of getting people to sleep with them without a condom,” says Tyler Curry, an editor with the new group HIV Equal, who has written about his frustration with gay men still ignorant about what it means to be undetectable. “Positive men don’t want to transmit the virus to someone who is negative just as much as a negative person doesn’t want to become positive,” Curry emphasizes. Read More
Why Are HIV Rates So High in Russia?
In 2013, Russia's national parliament, the State Duma, passed a federal law banning gay "propaganda", amid a Kremlin push to enshrine deeply conservative values. Human rights campaigners said the law had resulted in an increase in homophobic and transphobic violence, along with the suppression of information on sexual health and HIV for the LGBT community. Read More
Because You Are, Therefore I Am: African leaders discuss sexuality, religion, and equality
Leaders from Botswana, Cameroon, Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe gathered for a historic consultation. Rev. Dr. Kaypa Kaoma and I worked with leaders from the World Council of Churches and Dr. Gerald West, University of KwaZulu-Natal in organizing this consultation.
We are committed to changing the narrative in Africa from persecution of LGBTI persons and their families to acceptance. We are committed to making change happen in faith communities, theological schools, universities and in civil society.
Chad becomes 37th African state to seek ban on homosexuality
Chad government ministers voted to make same-sex relations a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison and 50,000-500,000 Central African francs.
The decision was condemned by human rights groups as another setback in the struggle for gay rights on the continent. Chad’s penal code is more than half a century old and does not explicitly mention homosexuality. The cabinet claims the measure is intended to “protect the family and to comply with Chadian society”. Read More
Israel warns public about dangers of ‘ex-gay’ therapies
Israel’s Health Ministry has formally adopted the recommendations of its country’s Council of Psychologists and the Israeli Psychological Association against so-called reparative therapies aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation - issuing a public warning against them on Sunday. Read More
Xiao Zhen on Trying to End ‘Gay Conversion Therapy’ in China
A man going by the pseudonym Xiao Zhen is the first person in China to file a lawsuit against a clinic offering “gay conversion therapy,” to change sexual orientation that medical experts criticize as ineffective and harmful. With the help of the Beijing LGBT Center, Xiao Zhen has sued the Xinyupiaoxiang Counseling Center, as well as Baidu, China’s Internet search engine, for posting the ads that led him there. Read More
The Free and Equal campaign is 1 year old… 1 billion rising
A year ago, the United Nations Human Rights Office launched an unprecedented global public education campaign for lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender rights: Free & Equal. This inspiring video tells the story of what happened next.
A year ago, the United Nations launched an unprecedented global public education campaign for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender rights: Free & Equal. What has happened since then? Watch the video to find out. You can watch this video with English and Spanish captions by clicking the small, square "CC" button in the bottom of the YouTube screen and selecting language.